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16 Oct 2009 : Column 1114W—continued
Departmental Procurement
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 12 May 2009, Official Report, column 714W, on departmental procurement, what the cost was of procuring aerial photographs from Infoterra for the digital mapping project; and which public sector bodies are parties to the Pan-Government Agreement. [293028]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Pan-Government Agreement currently provides 106 central Government bodies (listed as follows) with geographic data. The data are used for a variety of purposes including environmental analysis and land registration. The aerial photography component is worth a maximum of £9.54 million +VAT in the first four years.
4NW
Advantage West Midlands
Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales
Arts Council of Wales
Association of North East Councils
Audit Commission
Boundary Commission for England (BCE)
Boundary Commission for Wales
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
British Council
British Geological Survey (BGS)
British Waterways
Cabinet Office
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH)
Charity Commission
Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission
Church Commissioners
Coal Authority (The)
Commission for Rural Communities
Communities and Local Government
Consumer Council for Water
Consumer Focus
Countryside Council for Wales (CCW)
Crown Estate (The)
Deer Commission for Scotland (DCS)
Defence Estates (DE)
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)
Department for Children, Schools and Families
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
Department for Transport (DfT)
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
Department of Health (DH)
East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA)
East Midlands Regional Assembly
East of England Development Agency
East of England Regional Assembly
Electoral Commission (The)
English Heritage
Environment Agency (EA)
Food Standards Agency (The)
Forensic Science Service
Forestry Commission
Government Offices for the English Regions (GON)
Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
Health Protection Agency
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
High Speed Two
Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
Highways Agency
Historic Scotland
Home Office
Homes and Communities Agency
House of Commons Library
Information Centre for Health and Social Care
Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
Land Registry
Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales
London Thames Gateway Development Corporation
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Met Office
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Justice
National Assembly for Wales Parliamentary Service
National Audit Office
National Housing and Planning Advice Unit
National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA)
Natural England
NHS Connecting for Health
NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service
North West Regional Development Agency
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)
Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Office of Communications (OFCOM)
Office of Government Commerce (OGC)
Oil and Pipelines Agency
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA)
One North East
Potato Council Ltd
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland(RCAHMS)
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW)
Royal Parks (The)
Scottish Water
Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA)
South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)
South East England Regional Assembly
South West Councils
South West Observatory
South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA)
Sport England
Sports Council for Wales
Tenant Services Authority
The National Library of Wales
Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation
Training and Development Agency for Schools
Transport Scotland
Tribunals Service
UK Border Agency
Valuation Office Agency (VOA)
Wales Centre for Health (WCfH)
Welsh Assembly Government
Welsh Health Estates
West Midlands Regional Assembly
Yorkshire and Humber Assembly
Yorkshire Forward
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough of 8 July 2009, Official Report, column 901W, on departmental public expenditure, when he expects his Department's impact assessments to be published. [292978]
Barbara Follett: Departmental impact assessments will be published alongside Bills on their introduction to Parliament in the usual way after the Queen's Speech. The Department is continuing to work with lead Departments to identify costs for inclusion in individual impact assessments for each new Bill.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 9 September 2009, Official Report, column 2007W, on departmental finance, what the breakdown by budgetary subheading is of his Department's other current spending for 2008-09. [293044]
Barbara Follett: The Department's other current expenditure in 2008-09 was £15.8 millions (page 50, line G Resources Accounts 2008-09). The breakdown of this is as follows:
| £ million | |
| (1) Expenditure on outward secondees fully offset by income received (including in appropriation in aid column of accounts) (2) Includes a range of compensation payments over the course of the year, most notably a £9.3 million payment following parliamentary commissioner for administration ruling on a planning case. (3) Balance of provision for compensation payments to ex-PSA staff which are non discretionary. | |
Departmental Research
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research projects his Department has commissioned in the last 24 months. [292703]
Barbara Follett: Details of research projects commissioned by Communities and Local Government and its predecessors are available from our research database (RD) at:
The database provides information on projects commissioned by Communities and Local Government and predecessor Departments going back to 30 November 2001. This includes the subject, contractor and cost of each research commission.
Departmental Visits Abroad
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 1 June 2009, Official Report, columns 190-1W, on departmental visits abroad, which divisions of his Department sent civil servants to represent his Department and to provide expert advice on policy and subject issues in (a) North America, (b) Australia and (c) Asia in the 12 months to 31 March 2009. [292863]
Barbara Follett: Records on civil servants sent by divisions of the Communities and Local Government (CLG) to represent the Department and to provide expert advice on policy and subject issues in (a) North America, (b) Australia and (c) Asia in the 12 months to 31 March 2009 are not held centrally. As a consequence, this information can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code.
Fire Services: Pensions
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the monetary cost of employers' contributions to fire service pensions was (a) in cash terms and (b) as a proportion of the total expenditure of fire and rescue authorities in (i) the most recent year for which figures are available and (ii) in 1997-98. [292592]
Barbara Follett: The Firefighters' Pension Schemes 1992 and 2006 are unfunded, pay-as-you-go schemes and under the financing arrangements in operation in 1997-98 pensions were paid from revenue: there were no employers' contributions.
New financing arrangements came into operation in April 2006 for English fire and rescue authorities, since when employers have paid a contribution of 21.3 per cent. of pensionable pay for members of the Firefighters' Pension Scheme 1992 and 11 per cent. for members of the New Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2006; in addition a charge is paid to cover the cost of any ill-health retirement.
In 2008-09, employers' contributions from English authorities totalled £203.477 million, which was 9.6 per cent. of total expenditure.
FlexSpace
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the outcome against objectives of the operation of the FlexSpace initiative in his Department's accommodation. [292728]
Barbara Follett: The planned reduction in Communities and Local Government's London estate from two buildings to one was achieved on 5 October 2009 with the final relocation of staff from Ashdown House to Eland House, thus enabling savings of £4.5 million per annum on reduced operating costs.
The success of the migration to flexible desking will be formally assessed in early 2010. A staff survey was carried out in January 2009 to establish a baseline for how staff in Communities and Local Government assessed their working environment. The same survey will be run in March 2010, some three months after the last moves to flexible desking, to measure the level of improvement. The survey will be supplemented by workshops, focus groups and individual interviews.
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